Highway toll company hires governor's former adviser

Published 11:15 pm, Sunday, February 8, 2015

Photo: Dru Nadler, File Photo

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Roy Occhiogrosso

Roy Occhiogrosso

Photo: Dru Nadler, File Photo

Highway toll company hires governor's former adviser

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Just days after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called for a major investment in the state's highway system, one of the nation's leading builders and operators of highway tolls hired Malloy's former top adviser and campaign manager as its lobbyist.

Two weeks before the governor was elected to a second term in November, the same firm's political action committee contributed $5,000 to the Democratic State Central Committee, according to federal records.

Roy Occhiogrosso, who led Malloy's unsuccessful 2006 gubernatorial campaign and the winning races in 2010 and 2014, is a managing partner at the Hartford-based Global Strategy Group, which last month entered a $60,000 a year agreement to represent the HNTB Corp.

Occhiogrosso is listed in filings with the Office of State Ethics as the main Connecticut lobbyist for the Kansas City-based HNTB. The company bills itself as a full-service consultant, from planning to construction and management of tolls, including those with higher "congestion" prices during rush hours to maximize revenue and discourage traffic. It operates tolls in states across the country. The company did not reply to a request for comment.

"I think the questions raised by Roy being involved in the political contribution will make it more difficult to enact tolls on our roads," Tom Swan, executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, a public policy watchdog, said Saturday. Swan added that the $5,000 given to the state Democratic Party is problematic.

He expects opponents to tolls may use the political connections to attack any plans.

In his State of the State address on Jan. 7, Malloy called for a radical transformation of the state's congested highway system, a plan that could take decades to implement and untold billions to fund. He had previously suggested that highway tolls could be a way to pay for the project.

Even if the General Assembly were to approve new tolls this year, it could take three to five years to complete.

Occhiogrosso declined to comment, and Tanya Meck, executive vice president and managing partner at his firm, said Friday the company does not comment on clients.

Occhiogrosso has "a set of experiences and relationships, along with a unique perspective," Meck said. "And this is a benefit for our clients.

"I'd also like to stress that we are not a lobbying shop," Meck said. "We're a communications firm. That said, there are times when Roy needs to reach out to a public official to set up a meeting for a client, ask questions or share our client's perspective on an issue. So, out of an abundance of caution, we register him. And then we report our activity accordingly."

Devon Puglia, Malloy's spokesman, was brief when asked for comment on Friday.

"We can neither control, nor do we comment on who lobbies for who in the entire state of Connecticut," he said.

After Malloy's 2010 victory over Republican Tom Foley, Occhiogrosso, a former chief-of-staff to state Senate Democrats, worked two years as the governor's senior adviser, occupying a center of a suite of offices across the hall from the governor. In December of 2012 he quit, returning to the Global Strategy Group. He rejoined Malloy's re-election effort last year in a senior advisory capacity.

Capitol ties

The Global Strategy Group has many clients whose work involves state government.

The Global Strategy Group has worked in crisis communications for AccessHealthCT, Connecticut's insurance marketplace under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Jim Cameron, of Darien, a commuter advocate, said with HNTB's hiring of Occhiogrosso, the return of tolls, 30 years after they were demolished for safety concerns and to avoid regional bottlenecks, may be inevitable.

"I certainly think that tolling is on the governor's very short list, possibly toward the top," Cameron said, adding that he believes so-called high-speed tolls will be spread throughout the state. "Companies that do that kind of work are probably looking at lucrative contracts to build a lot of tolling facilities. I imagine Roy Occhiogrosso wouldn't be involved with those initiatives if he didn't think that tolling was going to be one of the alternatives."

Cameron predicted Malloy's long-term vision for infrastructure improvements may total $70 billion to $90 billion and stretch out decades into the future.

Cameron said it's clear tolls alone would not generate the needed revenue. Higher gasoline taxes and possibly an increase in the sales tax could result. Another option would be a possible privatized initiative for the development of additional lanes on major highways including Interstate-95 in southwestern Connecticut and I-84 in the Danbury area that could have tolls in exchange for less-crowded lanes.

Joe McGee, vice president for public policy and programs at the Business Council of Fairfield County, said Friday his organization worked to banish tolls 30 years ago, but favors them now.

"The technology has shifted, but the bigger issue is we're not sure tolls will cover the cost," McGee said. "Tolls by themselves will not solve the financial obstacles. We need a conversation on it. We need cost-benefit analyses of each option. If you $3 billion in highways, what does that give you in jobs and economic growth? Connecticut could be a leader in transportation infrastructure because we're convinced it drives economic growth. But which is more important: Having an extra lane on I-95 or having trains that get from New Haven to New York in an hour, or from Stamford in 30 minutes? I don't think tolls are necessarily the answer. It's part of the answer, but I think the issue is bigger than tolls."